I am working on a bottle of it now...about to have some with dinner tonight. The only bad part is it is a local winery in the finger lakes in NY, so I can't get more without going there! They don't ship to PA.

It's only "the only bad part" if you live more then 45 minutes from the winery. Some of us ARE that close !!!

When you get a chance to get up here again, try "Tug Boat Red". It's also local and a simple little table wine. Bets example of showing what "a fruity finish" means.

Have you tried the Pasta Red Ray? My wife and I stayed up at the Aroura(sp) Inn on one of our recent visits to the inlaws when we were up your way. Definately my favorite. I'll keep the Tug Boat in mind...which winery makes that one?

My bottles of 2006 Prisoner Zin blend arrived today (jeez I think I ordered them Yesterday!) I've gotta say the wife and I both loved it, good heads up on this one Mike, Thanks. Probably one of the best under $35.00 bottles of wine I've had. I'm really enjoying some of these blended wines that are coming out of Calif. lately.

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A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.

The wino friends came over the other day to celebrate a 40th birthday of one of them. We had some pretty incredible bottles.

We started off with an 03 Penfolds Bin 407 cab. Not bad stuff…. I think I still prefer the Bin 389 though.

Then we had one of the birthday boy’s presents (great thing about buying a friend a bottle of great wine, he shares it with you!)…. This was one from Chili. A very hard to find 99’ Almaviva / http://www.almavivawinery.com/ This bottle was terrific. Amazing nose, uniform tingle all over the tongue and pretty decent finish. I’m definitely looking at Chili for more wines after this one.

Next up was a 2001 Dominus cab magnum. Wow, what a bottle. We probably shouldn’t have had this one after the Almaviva though. For the money this one cost, I think I’d rather spend it on more Almaviva’s.

Next was a 2006 Patz and Hall Pinot. This was a downright delicious bottle with a very unique quality to it I’ve not ever experienced. All of us were intrigued. I don’t how else to describe it other than ‘effervescent’. It was as if the wine maker intentionally added extra yeast, but in a good way. I like this one so much I just put in an order for a case of it.

To top the day off, we opened up one of my all time favorites; a 99 Silverado Cab. Opening this one after all the others was a big mistake. My memories of a wonderful wine quickly dissipated. As much as I loved this bottle in years past, it just couldn’t compete with the Dominus, Almaviva or Patz and Hall. It has officially been dethroned from my top five list of wines…. I put it above the Penfolds, but not any of the others.

If you can find a Patz and Hall and like Pinot, definately give this one a try. It's about $40.

Last night we had a bottle of Root 1 Chilean Cab. at a restaurant for dinner, for a bottle that can be had for about $10.00 it was very nice.

When we came home we decided to open the Nickel & Nickel 2004 Rock Cairn Cab. just to have a glass for Valentines. I laugh when I think about it because my wife had a big smile on her face and said "now that's wine, even my wine snob brother would have to like this" Really a great Cab.

Mike, I'll have to look for that Patz and Hall Pinot. We've got some good friends that are big into Pinot and I've been saving the Nickel & Nickel Pinot until they come over, it would be great to have another good Pinot to compare.

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A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.

As a postscript I found the Patz and Hall, ordered a couple bottles to try it out. Mike hasn't steered me wrong yet, so I'll bet these are as tasty as some of his other recommendations.

Chess I've always liked the Robert Mondavi Woodbridge cabs., the last time we were in their tasting rooms I had their Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, I believe it was a 2002 but I preferred the Woodbridge over the Reserve.

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A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.

To top the day off, we opened up one of my all time favorites; a 99 Silverado Cab. Opening this one after all the others was a big mistake. My memories of a wonderful wine quickly dissipated. As much as I loved this bottle in years past, it just couldn’t compete with the Dominus, Almaviva or Patz and Hall. It has officially been dethroned from my top five list of wines…. I put it above the Penfolds, but not any of the others.

I try to limit myself to one or two 'good' bottles an evening.When attempting to have too many good bottles, one's interpretations of what is considered a 'not as nice as i remembered' wine might still be an amazing wine, but it does seem to lose some respect when compared to more impressive offerings.

Our evening of tasting 5 bottles of reds, mostly cab savs, all between $30 and $40, had tainted my thoughts on the Francis Coppola wines. Then i had another recently at a top notch local restaurant and i was far more impressed than i was the first time around. Its quality was overshadowed by other wines.I'm still reserving any judgement until i've tried at least one more bottle.

_________________________"Those who preach the myths of audio are ignorant of truth."